The Wolverhampton Wanderers VS Brentford FA Cup match witnessed an unexpected twist when a Wolves fan was picked from the crowd to serve as a referee.
During an FA Cup match between Wolves and Brentford, an assistant referee became unwell, so a Wolves supporter from the crowd Ross Bennett, a referee at the youth level, volunteered to take over fourth official responsibilities. His team’s late triumph had him fighting to suppress his excitement.
“I had the referee asking if I’d do the fourth officiating, and I was like: ‘If you give me a quick crash course, I will,‘” Bennett stated to the Wolves Express podcast.
“So for the next 30 minutes of my life, I was officiating a FA Cup replay match; it was quite surreal, really, crazy.”
When Wolves won the game 3-2 via overtime thanks to a penalty kick, Bennett admitted he was “screaming” inside. The win set up their fourth-round matchup with West Bromwich Albion.
“The killer was not being able to celebrate the third goal because I’ll be going to the West Brom game and I couldn’t celebrate the goal that took us there because I didn’t know if I was allowed to or if I had to stay neutral,” he added.
Wolves VS Brentford Overview
Gary O’Neil’s team advanced to the fourth round thanks to a penalty kick from Matheus Cunha, which allowed the hosts to ultimately prevail 3-2 at Molineux in the replay.
Brentford had a wonderful headstart as former Wolves defender Nathan Collins struck a swivelling goal just 13 minutes into the game. Wolves, determined to fight back created an opening for Nelson Semedo to take the equaliser shot, levelling the game 1-1.
Wolves had almost gained their momentum when Neal Muapay struck another goal for the Bees just 7 minutes into the second half, once again taking the lead. However, the match kept twisting, and with only 18 minutes remaining, Wolves equalised again with a goal from substitute Nathan Fraser, who had only been on for three minutes.
The attacker could have given the home team the lead a minute later, but Strakosha made an incredible close-range stop to preserve the draw. Extra time was approaching from that point on, and shortly after the resumption, Sa turned Shandon Baptiste’s attempt onto the post. However, Cunha’s penalty kick goal in extra time of the first quarter gave Wolves a well-earned victory.
